Mack grabbed the hamburger, and to his surprise, it was warm. But for some reason,, he was expecting it to be cold.

Mack looked at the hamburger and it indeed looked like one made on earth, it had bread, and something that looked like meat and vegetables, but they all had a peculiar blue color on it, like if someone had sprayed just a tiny blue tint on them.

~sigh~

“Indeed alien stuff. blue burger.”

Mack took a bite of the burger, and to his surprise, it was not that bad.

And after another bite, and another bite, he was digging the burger ferociously.

Not even a minute later, the burger was devoured by Mack. .

“Oh no, I feel dizzy again.”

~stumble~

Mack felt on the ground.

He was several days without eating and the sudden ingestion of so much food made his brain release a torrent of dopamine in his body.

It was a good sleep at least. A deserved one.

[This one really is crazy master, I hope he can accomplish what you could not.]

Said the robotic voice like it was talking to someone, but there was no one there, except for the sleeping Mack.

After twelve hours of sleeping like a drunk man, Mack finally woke up.

He felt much better, but was hungry again.

He stood up and went to the machine and took another meal. This time it was a soup. Seeing how he felt after eating something heavy Mack opted for something more light so he would not pass out after eating. He was sick and tired of going unconscious, and he needed some liquid in his body, so he opted for a soup.

After eating the soup, Mack could feel much better already, and with some energy in his body. He was extremely dehydrated.

Feeling bored and obligated to wait a few hours until the next meal, Mack could only try to kill time talking with this mysterious voice, the book, or Arcane Legacy.

“The aliens indeed are way advanced than us. Such machine on Earth would be like a treasure.”

[…]

“Can you explain a little more about this place now?”

[I can. You have reached the minimum requirements to enter the Tower of Chaos.]

“You talked about these requirements earlier. But what were they? I know that use this Essence thing was one.”

[Indeed. The other requirement was to have a motive to enter. That was the first test. More than a motive, it was to have the correct motivations to enter the tower.]

“I see. That’s why the first test made me think of all the bad shit in my life. To see where my bottom line was and where it would lead me in desperation.”

[Correct. Some people take comfort in killing or blaming others or just killing themselves. The only way to pass the first test is to realize that only yourself is responsible for what your life can be.]

[I could say you had a lucky encounter, but I could also say that you had a terrible past. That’s why your test was so long and hard and also finished fast when you encountered the doctor from the hospital.]

“Yes. I think I own a big one to that man. I hope I can repay it someday.”

[Since you already feel better, i will explain a few things regarding your situation.]

“It was time already.”

[Your second test. Was not only to make you be able to feel Essence but also to test your Will, and to open the nine gates on your body.]

“Test my Will, again?”

[Yes, Will is the most important part of Essence Manipulation.]

[The gates in your body are a correlation with the nine tattoos. Each one represents a gate, and each one opens a gate in Hel too, but that is too soon to explain.]

[Different from other kinds of Essence Manipulation like wizardry, or sorcery, Magick depends on the Will of the user and follow a different path in practice, a much harder one, Wizards, for example, if they practice for a year and have a powerfully crafted artifact, they can cast spells that could easily destroy a building in your world]

“So, there is such a thing as sorcery, it’s not just alien tech.”

[Indeed. But you, you will be trained following the path of Magick, and will not be able to use such kind of items.]

“Did I not just use the box? Was not that a similar item?”

[No. The cube is a technological device.]

“I still can’t fully understand. But you said I will be trained following the Magick path. Why can’t I choose the wizard path?”

[Because that’s the wrong path and a short one. It can give you immediate power. But in long term it’s a dead end.]

“How can you be sure? I mean no offense but I would love to destroy a building in just a year of training.”

[It’s too soon to talk about that, but I will give you an explanation of why you should never try to follow other paths]

[Think of Essence like a virus, a virus that is present in everything and resonates with the will of those things, it’s a symbiotic virus]

[Wizards, witches, and sorcerers even alchemists use external tools, like an array, or a wind or a solvent, or a chant to enforce and amplify their will over the Essence around them.]

“I still don’t get it. What’s the difference?”

[Everyone has essence inside them. This Essence is usually easier to manipulate since it resonates with you. Now, what if your will is not strong enough? Or what if the spell you want to use was meant to affect the Essence on that bridge there? You will suffer from Essence depletion and the result would be far from the desired.]

“I see….”

[That’s why mages developed these various shortcuts, such as chanting or arrays, to use the Essence inside them as a trigger to manipulate the surrounding essence. They don’t use their own Will over the Essence, they use these tools as a means to force the surrounding Essence to be guided by their Essence inside them.]

“I still have a lot of questions, but I think I got a general idea. So they don’t use their Will over the Essence but use the Essence inside them as fuel to manipulate the Essence around them. And the way to do that is to use those things to cause an amplification effect? is that it?”

[You will learn everything in due time. What you really need to know is that your path is one where you will only depend on your will to manipulate Essence]

“And why is that? I don’t see why I could not do both? I’m still a newbie to all that, but why only go one way?”

[That’s because you don’t have Essence that resonates with you inside your body anymore]

“Wait what? Isn’t that supposed to exist everywhere?”

[Yes, you have Essence inside you, but when you opened the nine gates in your body, you released your ownership over it. All the Essence in the world will now pass through your body and not be restricted by it, but at the same time, you can’t have Essence that resonates only to you anymore.]

“Isn’t it the same as being a cripple in those cultivation novels? How am I supposed to do anything?”

[Following the only true path of Essence Manipulation, and if you practice hard enough, with just a thought you could burn the entire Essence in this world]

“It didn’t burn.”

Say Mack, after thinking that he wanted the world to burn.

[Of course not. If was that easy, why would the mages invent so many things to do that.]

“Not even a spark…..”

Said Mack, lamenting his weak will, or the lack of knowledge.

[Remember this. The path chose by your ancestor is the correct one. One that has no limits. Only you can limit yourself from achieving anything, and Will is the source to all that, and that’s why all the tests until now focused on this aspect.]

[With a powerful enough will, the universe shall be yours to bid his fate]

[Burning or flourishing, at your will]